Palm Royale Episode 2 recap: Maxine's Palm Beach is full of secrets, and one expensive cat

Welcome back to Shiny Sheet Recaps "Palm Royale," our weekly rundown of the new Apple TV+ series set in Palm Beach.

Each week, we look at five Palm Beach or key moments in that week's episode, the first three episodes of which premiered March 20 on Apple's streaming service.

Watch out: There are spoilers ahead, so if you don't want to know, stop reading right now and come back after you've watched.

Last week, we were introduced to Maxine (Kristen Wiig), an ambitious social climber who wants to break into the inner circle of Palm Beach's high society. We learned that she isn't very subtle and she really wants a friend. But even more than that, she wants to be accepted in Palm Beach.

Season 1, Episode 2: 'Maxine Saves a Cat'

1. It's a dressing room montage!

This is one passive-aggressive and expensive montage.

Maxine and Evelyn (Allison Janney) face off in the Ceil Chapman boutique, vying for the best clothes and the attention of the fawning Grayman (Dominic Burgess). (Did he just tell Evelyn that he dressed Maxine like a baby dock whore?)

Chapman was a fashion designer prominent from the 1940s through the 1960s. She worked with many celebrities. Other notable designers name-dropped during this montage: Malcolm Starr, James Galanos and "Oscar," perhaps short for Oscar de la Renta, who rose to prominence earlier in the 1960s as a favorite designer of Jackie Kennedy.

When Maxine gets back to the motel where her husband Douglas (Josh Lucas) is waiting, he opens the trunk of their Belvedere and playfully scolds her: "You bought out half of Worth Avenue."

2. The Beach Ball is brewing.

In the first episode of "Palm Royale," we learned that each of Palm Beach's great ladies has her own gala to benefit a worthy cause.

In the real Palm Beach, charity has a long legacy, with the well-to-do setting their clocks and calendars by the annual lineup of galas that benefit everything from Israeli soldiers to AIDS research and a range of cancers.

Notably not mentioned in these first two episodes of "Palm Royale" is the American Red Cross. The International Red Cross Ball (which this year raised $1.75 million) has historically been one of the biggest galas each season for decades, notably founded in 1957 by Marjorie Merriweather Post — yes, she of Mar-a-Lago fame. A Red Cross name drop would have been timely.

Norma, who we've learned suffered an embolism before Maxine and her husband, Douglas, arrived in Palm Beach, is known for her end-of-season Beach Ball, which seems to be on par with the Red Cross gala.

With Norma in a coma, there is some question about who will host the Beach Ball — if anyone hosts it at all.

Knowing that the Beach Ball draws people from around the world, it's clear that Evelyn feels she's the heir apparent.

As Maxine prepares for the gala hosted by Mary (Julia Duffy), she mentions that each woman has her own rituals to get ready for a gala. For Maxine, that's apparently going over to West Palm Beach to have Mitzi (Kaia Gerber), an aspiring model who looks up to Maxine, do her nails.

3. The D'ellacorte mansion might as well be in Palm Beach.

We get our first glimpse at the D'ellacorte mansion, owned by the still comatose Norma.

The estate sits behind massive iron gates that Maxine manages to squeeze through — "Escape and entry are two sides of the same coin," she says. "I was adept at both."

She then twirls on the mansion's sprawling lawn before climbing through a window. What is it with Maxine and climbing into places where she shouldn't be? First Palm Royale, now this. You get the idea she's climbed through a lot of windows and over a lot of walls in her life.

Inside the mansion are a million touches that scream Palm Beach. Golden light filters into each room through tall windows framed on the outside by palms. Norma seems to be a fan of the rich green tones that were popular wall colors in midcentury Palm Beach mansions.

Viewers also learn that Robert (Ricky Martin) has a reason to be skeptical of Maxine's intentions: He lives at Norma's house and tells Maxine he takes care of the house and Norma. Maxine then questions what he means by "taking care of" Norma.

It's here we first meet the cat from the episode's title. It's a small stone cat that Maxine picks up to take with her for the auction at Mary's gala that night. She passes dozens of items that are visibly worth quite a lot of money to pick up this little cat, saying, "You'll have to do," as she shoves it into her purse.

Side note: I don't know what's better, the absolute sass Martin delivers as Robert, the straight-shooting bartender of the Palm Royale, or the way Maxine says "creme de cacao" when she orders a grasshopper.

4. Appreciation of the Shiny Sheet is back.

Palm Beach Daily News is at the center of the action as this episode reaches its climax.

Maxine meets Ann (Mindy Cohn) in the steam room at the Palm Royale. They talk briefly before Evelyn, Mary and Raquel (Claudia Ferri) enter and start gossiping about Maxine, not realizing that she's on the other side of a partition in the steam room. Ann shares some encouragement with Maxine: "Don't sweat it," Ann says. "It just means they noticed you."

Later, Ann shows up just in time to earn Maxine the spotlight at Mary's gala for fibrosis — that's fibrosis of the liver, or cirrhosis. The other fibrosis was taken, Mary quips. The gala is hilariously called Fib Bids, because it calls on each table to bring an auction item to benefit the cause.

It's during Maxine's turn to share her auction item that we learn that Ann is Ann Holiday, the new Society Editor of the Shiny Sheet. Ann appropriately identifies the simple stone cat as being a piece of art with great value, which she announces to the gala.

Maxine is awestruck. Not just because she outbid Evelyn to the tune of $75,000 — that she definitely does not have — and won back a little stone kitty, but because she now has the ultimate "in" with someone from the Shiny Sheet.

5. The Palm Beach of 'Palm Royale' is full of secrets.

One of the many secrets we learn in these first two episodes: Linda is Evelyn's stepdaughter. And apparently they have some kind of deal for "mutually assured destruction," as Linda says.

We also find that Maxine keeps secrets from Douglas, as she encourages Dinah to keep secrets from her husband and lover.

And, we get the notion that Evelyn knows something about Douglas and Maxine that Maxine doesn't.

One secret that benefits Maxine: She learns that Linda is a lifelong member of the Palm Royale. With Linda's signature, Maxine secures her standing with the club.

Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Royale Episode 2 recap: Shopping, secrets and the Shiny Sheet